Programming Jabber

Navigating into the LDAP hierarchy

Having our reflector component defined in the JSM’s <browse/> list makes for a smooth transition into the reflection. We’re going to navigate the LDAP hierarchy in a similar way to what was described in Section 6.2.5.1. On receipt of an initial browse request, ldapr must return the top level of the LDAP hierarchy it has been set up to reflect:

<iq type='get' to='ldap.cicero' id='7'>
  <query xmlns='jabber:iq:browse'/>
</iq>

Figure 10-10 shows the LDAP hierarchy we’ve discussed in Section 6.2.5.1. It’s part of an imaginary structure devised to represent people and departments in an organization. The base distinguished name, or base DN (an LDAP term meaning the common suffix used in the identifiers of all elements in a particular LDAP structure), is dc=demo,dc=org. A DN, or distinguished name, can be thought of as a key for a particular element. Levels within the LDAP structure are identified with DNs of ever-increasing lengths, as they get more specific the deeper the hierarchy is descended.

Figure 10-10. The LDAP hierarchy

If ldapr were to reflect this hierarchy, we want the response to an initial browse request to return information about the People and Groups nodes. In Example 10-16, we see what this response looks like.

Example 10-16. An initial browse request elicits a reflection of the People and Groups nodes

SEND: <iq type="get" id="B88" to="ldap.cicero"> ...